Even if the name isn’t familiar to you, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve heard the mournful strings of Cavalleria rusticana, whose symphonic Intermezzo features prominently in the films Raging Bull and The Godfather Part III.
In the former, it’s played throughout the opening credits sequence as Robert De Niro’s Jake LaMotta dances in slow motion within a hazy boxing ring. During Francis Ford Coppola’s somber conclusion to the saga of Michael Corleone, the play itself is performed during the film’s bloody, revenge-laden opera house sequence.
Since its first-place win in Rome in 1890, Pietro Mascagni’s most well-known composition, submitted in the nick of time for competition, has endured in popularity. Inspired by Cavalleria and its themes of lust, betrayal and jealousy, Ruggiero Leoncavallo created the other opera on this bill, the two-act I Pagliacci, whose sad clown character has ingrained itself in pop culture. Its famous, aching tenor aria, “Vesti La Giubba,” will be recognizable to many.
Fittingly, the acclaimed Godfather director’s uncle, Anton Coppola, will serve as maestro for both pieces, which will be performed in Italian with English supertitles.
These classics have been such a frequent double bill since 1893, both are known around the opera world as “Cav and Pag,” and Opera Tampa presents them together for your enjoyment twice this weekend.
See Cavalleria rusticana & I Pagliacci at 7:30 p.m., on Fri., Jan. 27, and 2 p.m., Sun., Jan. 29, at the Straz Center, downtown Tampa, 813-229-STAR. Tickets start at $29.50. strazcenter.org.
This article appears in Jan 19-25, 2012.
